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Unwanted Visitors [Series 01] by Argonox
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Uncertain Danger [Part 01]
Date: 1 June 2003, 8:13 PM
[Part 01] Uncertain Danger
[Series 01] Unwanted Visitors
Aboard the TESCHKLE
2300 'Shipping and Loading Bay'
The dim red lights flashed slowly as a small supply ship hovered backwards to the loading bay.
Groups of grey-coated men waved their hands to guide in the ship. It's engine roared over the
background noise of the bay, until it came to slow stop. The ship quickly dropped to the floor,
lowering its landing pods to make the descent more comfortable.
A sharp hissing sound echoed through the loading bay as a long narrow door opened from the
cargo ship that had just came to a stand still. The door slammed onto the ground, sending
bright yellow sparks up into the dark light as the metal titanium scraped.
At the back of the loading bay, two shining grey doors slid open with a clatter and Sergeant
Andrew McTeane and Corporal John Harvey strolled in.
"These packages Sir, we received them from the covenant - right?" Corporal Harvey had a
puzzled look upon his young face.
"That's right kid, an unknown source, yet scans showed it to be from an uncharted covenant
ship." McTeane's face kept the same blank expression that had been with him since he saw
his squad members brutally murdered, as he was kept locked behind bars by a team of
EXR-ELITES that toying with him.
"But, beg your pardon Sir, isn't this a bit stupid? It can't be safe, I mean Sir, the covenant
aren't exactly our best buddies, are they?" Still Harvey wore the confused look.
"Right Corporal, listen good, we received an anonymous gift radioed in from which we
monitored to be some kind of covenant transmission. We then sent out a group of
highly trained marines, including Master Chief himself to the destination of the
package to check it out and clear the area. The mission was a success and no
covenant was ever seen on this mission from leaving the debriefing room on this ship
to this ship landing back here. Ok. We have already scanned the package with our
CLNSWEAP monitors aboard the cargo ship, and will do it again right here, where
you shall witness it." McTeane looked at Harvey hard and long, and all the Corporal
could do was look ahead of him and be silent.
The eight wheels of a Cargo Bug rolled out from the ship, on top, the mysterious
covenant package. The wheels squeaked down the ramp out from the ship,
showing signs of whatever was inside, was of a large weight.
Groups of two slowly approached the crate sitting of top of the
Cargo Bug and scanned it with small handheld computers. After five repeated
beeps from each computer, they men in grey moved away.
Footsteps tapped from inside the ship, then from the shadows within the gaping hole
of the cargo ship, a large silhouette of a figure stepped out, the red flashing lights
shown past the figure. The dark shape stepped out from the shadows followed by
a group of smaller figures.
Bright white beams flashed on and trailed across the floor until landing upon the
characters approaching out from the ship. The light landed on the first shadow, which
to nobody's surprise was Master Chief, the green shine from his armour was
unmistakable. The others, which followed his lead, were the 2nd EXP
Company, a group of highly trained marines.
2nd EXP Company all went their separate ways, most heading to their
quarters for some shut eye before they were hauled up once more for another
mission that could be there last.
Master Chief slowly made his way up to Sergeant McTeane and Corporal
Harvey, who were standing in the distance watching the unloading. The Chief approached
the two men and saluted them, stamping one foot on the ground making a loud shudder.
"Chief, I hear the mission was a complete success. Well done. Another mission without any
form of casualties under your belt." This brought a smile while talking to the Sergeant's face.
"Master Chief you are requested at the bridge immediately." Corporal Harvey hesitated whilst
talking with the Chief, this being one of the first encounters face to face with such a legend.
"Thank you Sarge..." Master Chief turned his glance at Harvey "Corporal" bringing a
warming smile to his face, feeling relieved.
The Chief walked away to the right of both men, quickly but without drawing much
attention to himself. Meanwhile the Sergeant followed by Harvey walked over closer
to the package to give more orders on its arrival.
Walking round the crate slowly, carefully checking every inch on the
surface, he stepped back and nodded to the Corporal.
"Proceed with CARGO SCANNER CHECK" Long metal arms dropped from ceiling
and blue beams shone across the crate. A robotic voice then announced that the
crate was indeed safe of any form of explosive or life forms. Harvey still kept a nervous
look.
"Open the package, but proceed with extreme caution." Harvey's hesitation still remained
slightly, making these cargo officers more nervous.
The men approached, slowly all hold long claw like rods for help with opening this covenant
gift. The clicks of the cargo marines rifles could be heard as the readied stance. Three men
neared the crate, the claws extended to full reach, till they were close enough to latch onto
the front panel. With a synchronised motion they gave a hard pull and the large metal panel
dropped to the floor. Fresh grass poured out from inside.
"Proceed. Reich and Boutlon check the package." Harvey took a long hard swallow.
The larger man out of the two lost balance heading over to the package and fell face first
into the fresh grass lying on the dirty metallic floor.
"Carefully. Reich!" This time Harvey's voice was sterner.
"Sorry Sir." Making everyone nervous, slowing getting back to his feet and returning his
focus back to the package.
Torches flicked on as the two men approached the crate, the white circles that danced
around the inside of the package came to a stop on a small glowing green box, small red
dots darted back and forth inside the green casing.
Reich and Boutlon used their claw rods to remove the grass used as a form of
protection for the object. Soon after they got called away by McTeane, they quickly made
their exit from this unnerving experience.
"Right I want two scientists to retrieve the object and take it back up to the labs for
observation" Nobody moved "Right you and you!" The sergeant had a displeasing
look on his face this time, and the two called up by the Sarge quickly did what they
were told.
Both men approached the object carrying a large clear container. They picked the
skull-sized object up with a large pair of metal tongues, and moved it over and into
the container. Placing the container on a small trolley and escorted by two marines
they made their way off to the labs.
"Well, I don't think I was expecting that." Harvey scratched his nose and ran his
tongue across his now crusty dry lips.
"What were you expecting?" The Sarge raised his voice high at the end as he
turned to face Harvey.
"Erm...I don't know. I was and still am very curious to what it may be. And I wont
feel safe until that thing has been confirmed 'Not Dangerous'."
"Well give them time. But as you, I have my uncertainties about how safe that
thing may be. I don't have a clue what it could be, and being from the covenant
I can never trust it." Sergeant McTeane had an unclear and worried look on his face
now, which made Harvey really worry, as he had never seen this expression before.
"Well why did we go pick it up if we knew it was from the covenant?" An unfamiliar
look of confusion still lay on the Corporals face.
"I didn't give the order, kid. If you want to know that go speak to Captain Redokia, he
gave the order to go check and bring back that 'gift'. Much to my disagreement and
many others concerning the crew's safety aboard the TESCHKLE." Still Harvey was
unsure what the Sarge was really thinking making the Corporal feel uneasy.
The two men turned around and strolled off back to the bridge, leaving a small group
of cargo workers to clean up the empty package.
The red lights still gently flashed on and off, and the bright white beams slowly faded
away, leaving the dim torch lamps from the quiet workers.
Still remaining in the air was a mist of danger that could only be explained in the
next couple of hours.
Uncertain Danger - Unwanted Visitors [Part 02][Series 01]
Date: 2 June 2003, 10:26 PM
[Part 02] Unclear Danger
[Series 01] Unwanted Visitors
Aboard the TESCHKLE
0800 'Labourites on the TESCHKLE'
Scratching his eyes after hours of hard lab work Scientist Jason Harmon, lent back in his office chair. A loud creek from the plastic awoke his neighbouring lab buddy Fled Isomer in a flutter; he knocked glass beakers across the table, liquids poured, steaming down onto the floor.
"Watch what you're doing, Fled!"
"Sorry, you made me jump"
"I'll wont be the make making you jump if we don't get this bloody object sorted out before Sergeant McTeane gets his moody ass back down here"
"Yeah, ok... but Jas, where is the bloody thing?" They both looked around quickly, scanning every inch of surface with there eyes.
"Shit!"
"Where's it gone?"
"Look at the container..." Their eyes fixed on the empty container that had a layer of green slime sitting across the bottom.
Both running over to the container, they were now staring at the object, or what was left of it. They then looked at each other worried, then carried if over to the table and slammed it down and started prodding it with weird tools.
[30 Minutes Later]
Sergeant McTeane strode down white tiles of the laboratory sector on the ship, his stern reflection shone beneath him, smoke trailed from the brown cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth. He approached a door reading 'LAB 09870 Scientific Research' and stopped looking at it for a second before hitting the red switch to his left. The door slide open and two nervous looking men jumped at his entrance.
"Right boys, what have you come up with?"
"Well Sir, after extensive research on -" Harmon's sentence was cut short by the Sergeant angry voice, "Where the hell is it?"
"Sergeant, like I was saying for several hours the 'object' rapidly became liquidised, there were no sudden changes in room temperature and container contamination. And after studying this liquid we found it to be nothing more than a simple jelly mould. Covenants play things if you like. The reason it suddenly became liquidised is because we think that liquid is the original form and its then changed into these colourful shapes."
"You mean, the covenant troubled us for nothing more than a space toy?" The Sergeants face turned a little red now.
Footsteps tapped outside, a green metal suit hurried by the labs, its orange visor shone bright in the white lights.
"Good work boys, file your report then send them up to the Captain." He turned around quickly and hurried off through the doors and back from the direction he came. The scientists looked at each other and blew a sigh of relief.
[Storage Bay - Approximately same time]
A yellow car shaped vehicle drove up to a bunch of stacked crates, its large fork like arms reached above a couple of the boxes and smashed down through them. Pieces of metal and wood crumbled and split, the crunch rang throughout the empty storage bay. The forks rose again, then came crashing down once more into the lump of stacked crates, more pieces of metal and wooden splinters shot out across the floor. This repeated for a while until the stack was no more than a pile of chips on the cold steel floor.
A small man climbed out from the yellow car shaped destroyer and headed over to another vehicle, this one small and had a kind of box shape on the front. Reaching for the door the man heard a loud, but quick screech. He span round, flicking on his torch in one motion, he guided the bright light towards where the noise came from. Nothing. Once again the man turned back to his job, the screech echoed again this time from his right, he swung the torch around to a small collection of boxes that had not yet been crushed. More curious he approached the crates, slowly raising a small wrench that he kept in his back pocket. Again the screech, getting louder and longer, the man slowly rose his wrench as he reached around the box. But before he could do anything something struck him at great speed in the stomach, a gut-wrenching pain filled his abdomen, then flowed all the way up into his head. The room started to spin before coming cloudy. And before the man fell into his eternal sleep he heard once more the screech.
[2 Hours Later at the Storage Bay]
Bright beams scanned across the dirty floor, a puddle of red blood sat near an old machine. A small group of workers had gathered round this scene. Two marines quickly hurried over to the gathering crowd.
"What happened here?"
"We don't know, Thompson came here about 10 minutes ago and found this horrific puddle of blood. Then after about 5 minutes of checking both manually and over the COMM old Peter Remora hasn't checked in or reported to the Ship Desk"
"A murder?" A young man, dressed smartly stepped forward, holding a small camera and a data pad.
"I believe so, I don't want this travelling any further and causing a panic across the ship. If you do leak this out then who ever responsible can be thrown into the cells I'm afraid. Anyway at the moment I'm collecting information around the crime scene, and trying to form a conclusion which is difficult seen as the body is no longer in the area"
"Pardon" One of the marines looked puzzled.
"Well there is a small trial of blood that leads to the back of the storage bay and into the ducts. A vent robot has been sent checking there for about 3 minutes now, we should get full report in about 34 minutes."
"So what we do in the mean time"
"Guard this area. And make sure whatever killed this poor bloke doesn't come back and if it does, make sure it doesn't leave alive"
"Thanks. Nothing from our normal job of seek and destroy then, but couldn't it just be an accident?"
"Anyone seen that Aliens movie?"
To be continued....
The Darkness Worries - Unwanted Visitors [Part 03]
Date: 3 June 2003, 9:10 AM
[Part 03] The Darkness Worries
[Series 01] Unwanted Visitors
Aboard the TESCHKLE
1500 'Crew Meeting Room'
Sergeant McTeane slammed his fist down onto the metal table, papers floated up and onto the floor with such a force. He looked around the room frantically, staring at each member in turn before continuing with his angry temper.
"Right! Since this morning old Peter Remora being reported missing and in fact to studies show now, murdered. There have been another reported seven homicides, four bay works and three marines. THREE MARINES! You know how well we train these damned marines here, they weren't on their own, a group of three marines, slaughtered! And we still don't have a pissing clue to what the hell is doing this!" White foam now formed at each end of the Sergeant's narrow mouth.
"Sir, we are doing everything possible at the moment. I have three technicians studying CCTV footage from the last 7 hours around the bays aboard this ship." Corporal Harvey insisted that things would be all right.
"But what do we do now? The ship is on alert and panic has already set in. Thankfully most people have had sense to go back to their quarters and lock themselves in there until this has been dealt with"
"I suggest that we send out our SE-UNIT. This is what they have been trained for and they will do their job to the full. I say that's our best option"
"Live gunfire around the TESCHKLE? That's ludicrous, what if innocents get injured? What if somehow they hit the pipes or circuits? That could lead to our generator to explode or just shut down the power? If then we cant see what we our fighting?"
"Sir! The SE-UNIT has been specially trained for close combat and heavy weaponry skills aboard ships and landscapes. They have been trained to work in the dark areas and to help with technically difficulties"
"Then why haven't they been called out already?" The Sergeant sat back down in his seat, and placed his head into the cup he made with his hands. "Your all dismissed". Everyone got up and left the room with McTeane sat there.
[30 Minutes Later - Armoury]
A group of six men were getting changed. Black suits, tight to the skin covered their body. Metal plates were then strapped around their most vital kill spots. More armour was then strapped over their torso, arms and legs. Then in turn went up to collect their weapons; three picked up the MA5B Assault Rifle, with the M6D Pistol as their secondary and a small selection of M9 Grenades. The other three then strolled up and picked out a different weapon in turn, the first chose the M90 Shotgun. The second chose the M19 Rocket Launcher and the third and only person that could carry this weapon the M41 ELAAG MINI, a cut down and lighter version of the M41 LAAG on the warthogs, only this could be carried by man. All weapons and armour had now been packed, they all walked over to collect there last piece of equipment. They all picked up their helmets, a strong metal shell; a green visor covered their field of vision, which allowed for a HUD. And a strong lamp poked from the left of every helmet. The Special Extermination Unit was now underway.
[10 Minutes Before - Walkway connecting Bay 12 to Bay 14]
A group of marines slowly scanner the area, their troches sliding down the walls at either side. The four marines sent on Captain's orders, much to their disappointment.
The group made it over the walkway and onto Bay 14 without a sign of life. One marine stopped for a second to tie his boot back up, noticing the others were going off without him. He got up quickly and started a jog to catch up with the others. "Hey guys wait up!"
Suddenly something took him from his running position in his squad's bright beams into the darkness beside it. The lights followed, but gunfire couldn't with the chance of hitting the marine. The young mans screams were cut short but the sound of running water, this made every marine stand with weapons at the ready.
"Jesus Christ, what was that?"
"I don't know but I have a really bad feeling about this"
"Look if we can get back to those doors at the end of Bay 14 we'll be fine"
"That's like 200 yards sprint in near darkness!"
"Why haven't they got the power generators working down in the Bay level's yet?"
"I know you would have at least thought they would have given us some bloody night vision"
"Ok we can make the 200 yards, but not running, that only causes panic, we stand back to backs firing off at any thing that comes in a more than a 20 metre radius. And we'll get out of here alive!"
"Ok"
"Sure"
"Alright"
"OK. Let's go!"
The marines locked together, back to back and walked quickly but not running over to the Bay doors. The white torches scanned frantically across the walls and floor, nothing could be seen and nothing could be heard. The marines made it 50 yards without anything; still they quickly hurried, still sticking together. They made it 100 Yards, just another 50. They suddenly started to break up as they ran for the door. One marine tripped as another flew past him; his rifle caught the shin of another marine, sending him across the floor.
From behind them there was a sound of a quickened scrap and a low pitch growl, the men frantically tried to get to their feet, the other still running for the door. One marine made it to his feet, but soon to feel the sharp end of something, he felt the pain rush over him, and something wet dribbled down from his stomach. His head went light, and he crashed to the floor.
By this time the two marines had reached the door and slammed on the button, the doors were open but they turned back and lay down cover fire for the other running marine, by this time had got back to a running pace.
A dark shadow pounced into the marine knocking him off balance and skidded across the metal floor. A trail of blood marked where the contact had been made, the body slowly came to a stop by the others feet but the head rolled by.
Shouting madly, both marines jumped back inside the doorway their guns blazing. One hit the door panel once more; they began to shut which seemed to take to eternity. One of the guns clicked empty, looking down into his pockets for another magazine, a long black arm reached from the closing doors and grabbed the reloading marine. Quickly off the mark the other marine jumped forward and grabbed the others arm, both shouting hysterically the doors closed around the marines chest, sending a splat of blood forced up through his mouth. There was a loud crunch as the doors continued to close, and the marine's eyes rolled back into his head to reveal the whites.
The marine standing started to wobble, not taking his glance away from the body in the doorway then gently fell back against the wall behind him and fainted.
[1700 - Bay Generators]
The six SE-UNIT members checked around the empty room once more, two of which were busy at work on the generator.
"This thing has been on the blink for some while. Then it goes off at the worse time."
"We nearly got it"
"Bali how's it looking back there?"
"Everything's find and dandy Wekchle"
Suddenly the generator kicked into life, it gave a loud rumble then glowed a healthy green.
"There we go boys. All done, now we can get back to our main job"
"Yeah! Let's go kick some ass!"
"That thing can't hide in the darkness any more!"
The squad members let out a cheer, but then soon stopped as the radio buzzed in. They all fell silent to hear what was said.
".........H...EP.....SE-UNIT......THE TH...G.....HAS...REA..HED...THE....U..PP...R LEVEL!! WE...REQUE..T YO...R....ASSIA...TANC.......NOW....QUICKLY....IT'S HERE!....ARGHHHHHHHHHHH." The radio cut dead and the group looked surprised at each other, some how that thing had gotten up to the upper level. This could mean a very high casualty rate and many more deaths.
"Come lads! Let's get a move on, we cant waste any time!"
The SE-UNIT charged out the door at a sprint, they headed off to the elevator in the bay. The doors slammed back. A slumped body lay in one corner in a pool blood, deep cuts reached from head to toe. The men stepped in and shut the doors.
"This isn't going to be one of our easiest missions, is it?"
To be continued...
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